More Articles

A new home has been selected for the Driving Park branch library of the Columbus Metropolitan
Library.

Trustees for the library board voted yesterday to purchase lots at 1422 and 1410 E. Livingston
Ave., a few blocks west of the branch’s current site.

The purchase price, $447,750, went to four property owners, said Steve Prater, the library’s
director of property management. The land, which previously was used for retail, also includes
sections of an alley.

Late last year, the board approved spending $839,500 for architectural work to replace both the
Driving Park and Whitehall branches, which were determined to be among the oldest and most
overcrowded of the system.

The Driving Park branch, currently at 1566 E. Livingston Ave., was built in 1972 and, at 6,000
square feet, is the system’s smallest.

Finding a suitable 11/2-acre home was a challenge, Prater said.

“We were building in an urban environment, one already built out. It was a matter of trying to
bundle multiple properties to give us the adequate size lot that was required.” The replacement, to
be designed by NBBJ, will more than double the size of the branch and cost as much as $6
million.

Construction on the Driving Park site and Whitehall replacement are both scheduled for early
next year.

The library has dropped plans for a new technology center to serve the North Side because a site
could not be found between the Linden and Northern Lights neighborhoods that offered a short-term
lease, said Kim Snell, library spokeswoman.

Both replacement branches are the result of a 2.8-mill replacement levy passed in 2010, which is
collecting about $30 million annually

Both communities “really value their libraries, and we’re happy to be able to bring them a
larger facility with more resources,” Snell said.